This invention relates to a process for the production of unsaturated amines and specifically to a process for producing such amines from the reaction of ammonia or an amine with a pi-allyl palladium complex.
The use of unsaturated amines as intermediates in the production of a wide range of agriculture chemicals, herbicides and plastics is well-known and a prime object of the present invention is to provide a means of obtaining such amines in good yields.
The production of allylamines from pi-allyl palladium complexes is fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,902 which claims:
"A liquid phase process for preparing allylic amines which comprises reacting a pi-allyl palladium complex with ammonia or an amine having a reactive hydrogen atom attached to the amine nitrogen atom at a temperature below the decomposition temperature of said complex, said process being conducted in a liquid selected from the group consisting of said amine and a solvent of the formula ##STR1## wherein R, R' and R" are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl and phenyl with the proviso that where either R or R' is linked to R" then R and R" or R' and R", respectively, form an alkylene radical, and wherein the sum of carbon atoms in R, R' and R" is less than 12."
The theory of the reaction and the structure of the pi-allyl complexes is fully set forth in the above indicated patent and a method by which such complexes may be formed is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,020.
It has now been found possible to improve greatly the effectiveness of the reaction described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,902 and the present application sets forth ways in which such improvement can be obtained.